The Night Sky
by ashfire1077
Summary: When Midnight appears at the school, she has a hard time adjusting to her new life. The riders and Sky try to help her, but how can they? Midnight's dark past makes life very difficult for her, but she wont tell them what happened or why it brings her pain.
1. Chapter 1 Hiccup

**Note: This story takes place right before _How To Train Your Dragon 2_ , and is inspired by the _School of Dragons_ game. Enjoy!**

Hiccup stood near the landing at the school, watching the new riders. Ever since the school had sent its first invitations, hundreds of promising new students had arrived. Hiccup hoped that this would help keep the peace among dragons and people. Hiccup watched the students interact with their dragons. Most of them seemed to bond with each other fairly quickly.

Hiccup felt someone nudge his leg. He turned around and found Toothless standing behind him. Toothless sent him a hopeful stare, and glanced toward the sky, making a rumbling sound in his throat.

"You want to go for a little flight, bud?" Toothless sent him a big gummy smile. Hiccup laughed, "I'll take that as a yes."

Hiccup hoped into the saddle, listening for the satisfying click of his metal leg connecting with the petal. Together,Hiccup and Toothless flew out of the school's caldera, relishing their growing speed. Hiccup heard a squawk behind them. He turned his head and smiled, seeing Astrid and Stormfly following close behind.

"Well hey there! Got bored with training the new batch?" Astrid groaned, "I left them with Heather. Maybe she can talk some sense into them."

"What happened this time?" He asked, "Icarus burned down the village or something?"

Astrid rolled her eyes, "No, but he's been teasing Stormfly and he and his stupid Skrill did nearly crash into my house again."

"Well that's not his fault. He's still learning. He just needs to learn to work with his dragon, instead of having it work for him."

Astrid glared at him, "That's what I told him. And he's not even supposed to be training in Berk yet. He's not ready."

"I'll talk to him later," Hiccup said, "Let's not think about him for now."

Icarus was a mischievous young teenage boy who had been a student at the school for 2 months. His dragon was a dark purple Skrill named Shockfang. If there was trouble, it was usually caused by these two.

Hiccup closed his eyes, feeling the cool wind blowing past his face. He loved it.

"Hiccup! Look! Down there!"

Hiccup turned to look down where Astrid was pointing. Surprised, he and Toothless stopped and turned around, "Let's get a closer look."

Astrid nodded, and together they flew to the base of the caldera. What they saw, was a small boat, with a small figure sprawled out in front of it. Toothless and Stormfly landed beside the small wreck. Hiccup stepped closer. The boat was only a small fishing boat, that is, the remains of a fishing boat. In front of it, lay what appeared to be a young teenage girl.

"What happened?" said Astrid, "Well it was probably that storm last night," Hiccup replied, "The water was pretty rough. I guessed it crashed here."

"But who would be sailing during a storm? And where is this from? It can't be a Berserker boat, and it's not an Outcast boat-"

"And it's certainly not one of ours," Hiccup said.

He leaned forward and put his hand on her shoulder, gently shaking it.

"Hey…Hey…wake up!"

About a minute later, they heard the girl moan, and she moved her arm slightly.

"Hey," Hiccup tried again, "Wake up."

The girl moaned again and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked, and focused her gaze upon Hiccup. She didn't seem afraid until she looked past the riders, and saw their dragons.

"It's okay," Hiccup said calmly, "They won't hurt you. They're friends. You're safe here."

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but her voice was hoarse, and barely over a whisper, "Where…Where am I?"

"We're just outside the school," said Hiccup, "The School of Dragons."

The girl tried to speak, but her throat seemed too dry. Hiccup gently picked her up and carried her to Toothless, "We'll take you to the Great Hall and get you some water. I bet you're pretty hungry too."

The girl hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Hiccup," said Astrid, "We'd better go to the hall at Berk instead of the one at the school. You know, it's closer to Gothi. This girl looks pretty beaten up."

Hiccup nodded his agreement before flying off to Berk with the girl in the saddle. 

**Another Note: This is my first fanfic so don't expect perfection. I know this is probably not the best thing you've ever read but I'll try and make the other chapters better. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2 The Girl

**Note: so here you go! Chapter 2! _And if the words are written in italics like this, that's the thoughts that the character is having at the moment in case you need to know. Please enjoy!_**

The girl sat in the Great Hall at Berk. She shifted on the bench, uncomfortable with being in such a large room. In front of her lay some yak meat and a cup of water, which she eagerly drank from.

The two vikings who brought her here watched her with interest.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm Hiccup. And this is-"

"Astrid. I'm Astrid. And you'd better get used to having dragons flying around all the time. They live here, and we train them," the blond haired girl said.

The girl shivered in her seat, "You _live_ with those things?"

Astrid's eyes narrowed, "If it weren't for Hiccup and Toothless you'd still be lying in the sand."

The girl looked down at her hands, "Sorry…"

"Hey… it's fine," said Hiccup, kindly, "Having the dragons here did take some getting used to. But it didn't take long for everyone to warm up to them get one of their own to train. You'll be fine."

Hiccup smiled down at her, before pulling Astrid aside and having a discussion with her, out of earshot from the girl.

The girl ate slowly and traced the long scars on her arms.

 _How could I ever trust a dragon? After all that's happened to me… I couldn't..._

She lifted her head as Hiccup and Astrid returned to the table.

"So…," said Astrid, "How'd you end up by the school? And what were you thinking, sailing in a storm like that?"

The girl looked down again, "I um… I didn't think it'd be that bad when I left…"

"What were you doing out there anyway?" asked Astrid.

"I um… I don't really want to talk about it…" the girl replied.

Astrid opened her mouth to say something but Hiccup stopped her, "I think I know how I can help ease your fears about the dragons here."

The girl looked up, suspicious, "How?"

Hiccup grinned, "Well I'd like to give you the opportunity to be a student at the School of Dragons. How's that sound?"

The girl's eyes widened for a moment before she closed them. After a long moment, she opened them again and looked down, "I-I…. I don't know…."

Hiccup gave her a small smile, "I'll give you time to think. Call me when you've decided."

He got up, and walked toward the door with Astrid, leaving the girl at the table, thinking.

 _I don't want anything to do with those beasts… I can't…No…But… What else can I do? I have NOTHING. NO ONE. Do I even have a choice? I can't just say no… And… If I can learn to control a dragon…maybe I can stop things like that from happening again…_

Hiccup had almost made it to the door when a shout stopped him.

"Wait! I'll do it! I want to be a student. I need to know about dragons."

Hiccup grinned, "Well congratulations! You are now a student. You're training starts tomorrow."

The girl smiled back, "Thank you…Hiccup."

Hiccup tilted his head slightly, "What's your name? After all, you know mine."

"My name?" said the girl, "My name…"

She looked back at Hiccup, "My name is Midnight."


	3. Chapter 3 Astrid

Astrid followed Hiccup out the Great Hall, "You sure we can trust this girl? You really think she's ready for the school? I mean, she literally just got here."

"Astrid, trust me," said Hiccup gently, "she deserves a chance here. I mean, we did just find her in a shipwreck. If she could handle that, then I'm sure she can handle what's to come."

"But can we trust her?" Astrid asked again, "If you remember, the last time we found someone in a ship wreck proved to be disastrous. We could have lost Berk to Alvin!"

"Well look at it this way, Astrid, " said Hiccup, "We didn't lose Berk that day. Although, I willingly admit, taking Heather in like that may not have been one of my better decisions-"

Astrid glared at him.

"-But look at what we gained from that," Hiccup continued, "Heather is one of us, a close friend. And now we have the Berserkers as our ally. We could have lost Berk, but instead, we rescued Heather's parents, and found a friendship in Heather."

Astrid sighed, "Well Hiccup, I sure hope you know what you're doing."

Hiccup looked at her and smiled, "Everything will turn out right in the end. You'll see."

Astrid smiled back at him, and gave him a playful- and painful- punch in the stomach. Hiccup groaned and continued his walk down the steps of the Hall, with Astrid next to him.

Hiccup stopped and turned to her, "Hey, I forgot to ask. So, um, if she agrees of course, do you mind letting Midnight stay at your house tonight? I need a trustworthy person to keep an eye on her."

"I guess she could stay," said Astrid, "we've got room."

"Perfect," said Hiccup, "Thanks Astrid." 

Astrid watched Gothi rub a substance onto Midnight's scraped arms and legs. Gothi then scribbled in the sand with her staff, with Gobber doing his best to translate.

"She says the girl's fine," said Gobber, "Her injures are minor, although she make feel some pain for the next couple days."

Gothi continued to scribble, "However, she is curious about the girl's scars. Says they look like dragon claw and bite marks…as well as…" Gobber squinted at the dirt, Gothi seemed dangerously close to giving him another knock on the head with her staff. Gobber had learned to be more careful when translating her writing.

"It's….Oh! I see it now! (Thank Thor.) She's curious about the scars because some of them look like scars left behind by the blade of a knife and maybe a sword. Some also look like marks left by a spear, too."

Midnight turned away from them as Astrid walked closer, "Scars?"

Midnight turned her head away and tried to leave, but Gothi grabbed her and turned her face toward Astrid. Midnight quickly turned away again, but not before Astrid saw the 'X' shaped scar on her left cheek. Gothi then held out one of the girl's arms for Astrid, revealing the long and numerous scars she found.

Astrid backed up and studied Midnight.

 _All those scars….why? Why did she get them? How? Are they for a punishment? Is this girl a bandit? A spy? How can we trust her?_

Astrid escorted the girl to her house, confused and unsure. She trusted Hiccup, but she also knew that he wasn't always right, no matter how sure he was. But then again, Hiccup did seem to know how to see the good in people, as skill she herself had not mastered.

 _He's the son of the chief, and he's got good ideas, especially his crazy ideas. If he can give her a chance, it's only fair that I do the same. We don't know anything about her, so it's wrong to jump to conclusions._

But no matter what she told herself, Astrid felt her gaze drifting to the 'X' shaped scar, and she couldn't help but worry.

 _What if we turn out to be wrong again? What's at stake?_


End file.
